It was a truism that all civilizations were basically neurotic until they made contact with everybody else and found their place within the ever-changing meta-civilisation of other beings, because, until then, during the stage when they honestly believed they might be entirely alone in existence, all solo societies were possessed of both an inflated sense of their own importance and a kind of existential terror at the sheer scale and apparent emptiness of the universe.

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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

On May 16 Ronald James Padavona, who achieved world-wide fame under the name Ronnie James Dio, lost a six-month long battle with stomach cancer.

He will be remembered first and foremost as the vocal power of one of the most influential metal bands of all time, Black Sabbath, where he replaced another heavy metal icon, Ozzy Osbourne. Dio will later quit Sabbath and go on to form the band Dio with drummer Vinny Appice. At the time of his death he was also heavily involved in another project, Heaven and Hell, together with several former Sabbath musicians.

A heavy metal icon, Dio will be remembered for his extraordinary vocal performances, lyrics, and the "devil's horns" gesture which he popularized and turned into a symbol worshipped by metalheads across the globe. One of my favorite heavy metal vocalists of all time, he leaves behind a legacy of great albums and live performances from the golden era of heavy metal and beyond. A true legend. R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio.